Some things are timeless: swans at the Bird Sanctuary at Minsmere
Change can be good or it can be frightening. Change can be stimulating or depressing. Sometimes we expect to find changes and are surprised, pleasantly or otherwise, when we don’t.
I went for a walk this last weekend. Five years ago, give or take a day I made the same walk, around Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast. The repeat was aimed to discern if the fabulous fungi we saw that day still existed.
Down the years I’ve seen some spectacular fungi, not least in the student flats I inhabited. But that late September day in 2010 provided me with some glorious images.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Those pictures stayed with me and when one appeared in a Timehop of five years ago last week I wondered: will their ancestral spores still survive to today? Well time to go and find out.
The old sea defences near the Coastguard’s cottage
We left the car at the National Trust car park by the Dunwich Coastguard cottages and headed north across the heath. The heather is past its best and the gorse flowers almost gone. Blackberries, usually in profusion, are late this year, if the sour tasting berries I sampled are anything to go by.
My trusty companion, between sniffs
But lots of people were enjoying the late summer sunshine, a hang glider swooped impossibly close above our heads and Dog’s nose did many a twitch enjoying the novelty of fresh air and nature of which he is normally deprived within his urban routine.
The Leiston Abbey Chapel, a ruin in the middle of nowhere. No signs today from whence its congregation came.
some hardy stock enjoying the warmth
The soil is poor, the countryside sparse of population and the skies, for England, monumental.
So it was that we finally turned left onto the path that, those few years ago contained the fungoid jewels. In my memory the day felt very similar, the path an easy sandy track, the trees mostly birch, in clumps amongst the heather.
I’ve never minded change – I’ve changed over time: physically not necessarily for the better – I lack a head of hair but I can grow a decent beard in less time than it takes man to travel to Mars these days, or circumnavigate the M25 which is much the same; emotionally I am more robust except when watching sport; financially, I don’t trust to luck quite as much as I did; socially I’m still a mix of the adept and inept.
But the natural world’s changes tend to focus on what is no longer there – birds and butterflies of my youth; green spaces reinvented as urban incursions; roads where previously access was impossible; a lot more people where before solitude was a given not the exception; a climate that no longer gives us the cleansing of harsh winters and the excitement of snow.
For once, nature had maintained her poise and dignity.
The orange is fiery
This purple joy tuns a raspberry as the fungi decays
These are so spectacular it was difficult not to capture only these
twins!
easily the best skirt…
… and as wide as my hand span
truly it looks like a sweet but I’m pretty sure it is poisonous
I took a shadow selfie to celebrate
me!
I will leave you with my favourite, that captures both the glory of nature and the smut that informs my humour…
How to explain this?
Some things, I’m glad to report, do not change.
I’ve swept past (as fast as one can, gridlocked behind a chain of caravans) on many occasions, en route to Blythburgh and beyond. Your pictures are glorious; your fungi very, very toxic. Definitely ‘look but don’t touch’ territory. Priceless, that last pic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Standing the attention, if truth be told! Where do you aim for Jools?
LikeLike
I find fungi fascinating in their variety – you’re about the third or fourth blogger I’ve read recently who shares that. Funnily enough, we have pictures of the phallic variety too. Though I’m not sure I’ve actually posted them……
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re not as trashy as me, Anabel! They are beautiful, though, aren’t they?
LikeLiked by 1 person
They all are.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful post, Geoff! And that last image and line made me Laugh. Out. Loud. Really did! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
glad you did ad thanks, Ali. Lo… oops!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Precisely!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Geoff, these are cool photos right to the end!
and yes the red ones are poisonous unless handled correctly and hallucinogenic – fly agaric.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought as much. Photos only!
LikeLike
Spectacular fungi!! Are any of them edible? They’d make an incredible meal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I expect some are but I’m no expert and didn’t have a guide book so took no chances. The red ones are definitely bad news I’m told.
LikeLike
beautiful images – and something about those magic mushrooms!! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah yes maybe that’s where my love of fungi comes from…!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well found
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love those white spotted red ones. I don’t think they are found in Australia – I’ve certainly never seen one here. They are the stuff of fairy tales.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are the stuff of fairy tales as, if you eat them you will be seeing fairies (before your untimely end that is)
LikeLiked by 2 people
They are wonderful if rather poisonous
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think they poisoned the elves in my story books. 🙂
LikeLike
Last weekend we stopped and took pictures of all the different kinds of mushroom we saw. There were so many in a small area. Unbelievable. I totally believe you posted that last one, though. Otherwise I might think I was reading the wrong blog. Oh, I LOVE the toadstools! They are fairy houses. (Thank you, Gordon, for raining on my little fairy parade.) 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s my childhood in a nutshell. Dreams ultimately crushed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sorry. That’s kind of funny. I mean, it’s sad but…I don’t know why I’m finding humor in it. Deepest apologies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s fine. Most people see my life as an absurdist piece of performance art….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful fungi photos, dare I say, by a fun guy!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hey, neat pun!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And totally new and original, I assure you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such interesting mushrooms! I am astonished at the bright, beautiful colors. I am glad they were still there for you when you looked again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I wasn’t expecting them to be still around in such profusion. A small victory for hope against the tyrant experience.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Spectacular photos and nothing really changes….. does it ?
LikeLike
What a wonderfully reflective walk. I was holding my breath to find out if the fungi spawned more spores — and they did! Those horses, what are they? The look like cave painting come to life with their thickly arched necks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No idea. Not much on horse makes any more than I am cars. I’ll ask the vet, she make have a chart.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was surprised you even took their photo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah but we were separated by a dyke full of water. Well safe on my side.
LikeLike
Gorgeous! Love the photos, and the fact that they remained 🙂 And the final image made me laugh…
LikeLiked by 1 person
surely not! It was a little, erm, obvious!
LikeLiked by 1 person